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Vexxhost Semi Dedicated Hosting Unlimited Features

Vexxhsot Semi Dedicated Hosting is cloud based hosting.  The cloud infrastructure is designed to be exactly the same as other web hosts, so there are no complications in getting started. Vexxhost web hosting 50 GB Disk Space, unlimited Web Sites Allowed and unlimited MySQL Databases.

Tablets with Intel’s Meego OS coming in second quarter

Tablets and netbooks based on Intel’s Meego OS are expected to start shipping in the second quarter this year, a source familiar with Intel’s plans said on Friday. Intel has been investing heavily in the development of Meego, which is a lightweight Linux OS for tablets, smartphones and embedded devices. Thus far, Meego has not been offered by any tablet or netbook vendor…more

Microsoft Loses Key Cloud Exec

The executive who oversees Microsoft’s efforts to port its Office software to the cloud will be gone by the close of 2011, the company confirmed Friday. Dave Thompson, corporate VP for Microsoft Online and a 20-year Redmond veteran, is retiring, Microsoft said. “He is looking forward to spending time with his family and volunteering with his favorite charities,” a Microsoft spokesman said in a statement published by SeattlePI.com…more

The year that was … 2010

YEAR IN REVIEW: January 2010; Fretting about Oracle, attacks on Google and Adobe and rumours of a mysterious device kicked off 2010
YEAR IN REVIEW: February 2010; Apotheker resigns, Windows 7 hangs and Facebook faces a class action suit. How February 2010 went down…more

Facebook Privacy: Zuckerberg Hack Spurs Two New Security Features

One day after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook account was hacked, the social networking site introduced two new security measures. Coincidence? Probably. According to Facebook, the new features were rolled out to honor Data Privacy Day tomorrow, which is marked by “governments, businesses and advocacy groups to raise awareness about the importance of staying in control of personal information.” Talk about ironic timing…more

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Like most things, on the surface copywriting looks fairly easy to do. If you’re an online marketer, you have probably seen a lot of sales letters. Those letters don’t look very hard, the words aren’t very tough – and you’re only trying to sell something. If you are like most new internet marketers, it didn’t take you long to figure out just how important and how difficult copywriting can be.

What so many internet marketers do is just hire a copywriter to take care of it. That’s a good option for many who feel they aren’t the best writer to hold a pen, or type a keyboard. But it is a great idea to learn something about copywriting so you’ll understand marketing better.  Good copywriting is of the utmost importance even if it is for something as simple as auto glass replacement.

If you want to sell a product, first think about how you could best sell it to yourself. You buy things; think about what makes you feel like buying something. So when you write your copy, just do it like you were selling the item to yourself. Avoid using any sales tactics that you would find irritating if they were used on you. Instead, emulate sales copy that you find pleasing or that makes you want to find out more about the product (or buy it on the spot). Never forget that you are a consumer as well as a seller. If you cannot sell your product to yourself then you have a big problem! As you work on your copy, create text that would seal the deal for you. You’ll find that it’s much easier to sell to others when you’ve sold it on yourself first. Long, unbroken text will bore your readers, so break it up. You were probably taught in school that a paragraph has to center around a single thought. This is a good principle to remember. Yet it’s also permitted to break one thought into several different paragraphs. Don’t use long blocks of text if you want to keep peoples’ attention, especially internet users.

Be sure to separate long paragraphs into smaller ones. Copywriting should flow, so it’s perfectly fine to have very short paragraphs, even if they are only composed or a sentence or two. This makes it easer for people to concentrate on your message.  At present I am working on a major online campaign for an autoglass company that involves great copywriting.

Headlines can also be used to change tracks and discuss a new idea. A bold headline in a large font is an effective way to start a new section or change tactics in the middle of your page without disrupting the reader’s focus. Some readers glance down the page without reading every word; headlines will grab their attention and may make them decide to read the whole thing. This is how most site viewers decide if they want to read the body of the page or if they want to click on to someone else’s offer. There are art forms to all excellent copywriting. Even videos that are more for sales have copy in them. Most likely that script was written by a copywriter. Every single ad you see on TV, or hear on the radio, was written by a copywriter.

Sure you could hire someone to do the writing for you. But to reiterate, if you do this it’s a very good idea to at least understand what’s going on with the writing that’s being done for you.

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There are many sorts of <a href=”http:hostbuilders.net”>web hosting plans</a> that are offered by various providers in the internet. What you should do would be to select the best and most proper one for you. The initial sort of Online web hosting will be the Cost-free Web hosting. It really is absolutely offering you a free of charge accommodation. Despite the fact that this type of internet hosting can grant you free accommodation, announcing advertisements on these websites is managed by limited room and traffic. Accordingly, this sort of online web hosting does not include any helpful functions to increase the professional production of your web web site.
The 2nd sort is Shared Web hosting. This sort of World-wide-web web hosting is specifically designed for tiny groups of consumers who have personal pages with minor written content. It employs a distinctive program called world-wide-web configuration plan. This software package helps in grouping the buyers in quite a few locations on one server. This type of World-wide-web web hosting is way cost-effective and presents typical outcomes.
Net web hosting can be a hosting business wherein the clients are renting for any full-service. Therefore, they have complete control with the server making use of a control panel. You will find in fact two important points you ought to bear in mind when choosing your <a href=”http:hostbuilders.net”>web hosting providers</a> . They’re (1) the Disk Space and (2) the Exchange Disk. The transfer disk is usually a hard disk that will assist you to while uploading your information. Most companies, nonetheless, devote much more importance to area potential (that gives a excellent area for log information or entrances on the web site and mail) over exchange capability. In return, they have miscalculated in thinking about room as the most critical feature of Internet web hosting. What would be the really worth of getting an outstanding internet site if webhost can not furnish the information essential by his clients simply because from the mere motive that the exchange energy of his website isn’t sufficient to assistance in transporting the data? Basically, transfer refers for the quantity of targeted traffic your website can support in moving a file. So, it could be the best most conditions in seeking a hosting. You really should thoroughly decide the existing necessities of your website and how much is needed within the coming months. The method: number of site viewed/month * regular site size = transfer/month is utilized to figure out your site’s required exchange potential. This formula also can enable you to in computing your month-to-month transfer capability requirement, and then, make changes to the specific use.

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I can’t stand spam, can you? I’m not talking about the food, but the seemingly endless stream of annoying commercial emails that flood most people’s inboxes.

Of course I have no doubt you’re aware of this computer term.

These messages range from mortgage rates to enlarging various body parts, to adult images, and their numbers grow every day. Some experts estimate that junk email accounts for over 90% of all emails!

Spam is named after an old Monty Python skit which took place in a diner where everything on the menu had spam in it. Conversation is almost impossible because of the sound of a group of vikings chanting loudly about spam. Decades later, the way legit emails can get lost in all the junk reminded someone, so they nick-named it spam and the name stuck.

It can be hard to avoid getting your email address on *some* list. It’s commonplace for many people to receive 50 to 100 pieces of spam in a single day – I know some people who get over 300 a day! And the problem is growing worse. 
Fortunately here are tips for people to reduce how much spam they get. Here are a few tips:

*Never try to unsubscribe or ask to be removed. Those emails may have a link or a reply address to stop getting emails, but 95% either simply don’t work, or you’re just telling the spammers that they have a live one.

*Never order anything you see in junk email, click through to the website, or in any way respond to the ad. It costs almost nothing for a spammer to send out thousands of emails. Even just clicking a link in one of those emails is enough to encourage them to send even more.

*Try to avoid entering your email address on websites as much as possible. If you do, consider getting a second email account with Gmail or a similar service. That way you can keep your main address private.
Many websites offering contests, joke lists, free greeting cards, etc. sell your email address along with millions of others to spammers around the world.

*Never sign an online guestbook. As an experiment I recently created a new email address and entered it on about five guestbooks I found with a Google search. Within 24 hours I was getting spam, and it grew to dozens a day within a week.

* Simply glancing at the body of a junk email can send a signal to the spammer letting them know you opened it. So if your email program has a “work offline” menu option (You’ll often locate this in the File menu) click it before opening suspect emails. You can also disconnect from the internet completely, but unless you’re still making the mistake of using the out-of-date dialup, this may involve unplugging connectors. Really, the best option is to use the “offline” feature of your email application.
If you use a web-based email service like Yahoo Mail, It’s impossible to use web-based email services offline. Check your mail options for a setting to turn off graphics in emails, or to display mail in plain text only. Turn on any option about blocking or not loading remote images.
These steps can help keep the spammers from knowing you’ve opened the message.

*Avoid forwarding emails to large numbers of people.
Not everyone realizes that when you forward a message, the email addresses of everyone who receives the message is visible to every person who reads it. If any of the recipients is a spammer, or if one of a friend’s computer is infected by certain viruses, they can harvest all of those addresses, including yours.
If you do send an email to multiple people, you can avoid revealing email addresses by entering addresses in the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) area instead of To or CC. This will hide the list of addresses from everyone else.
If you’re sending a message from somebody on to others, you should copy and paste just the message into a new email window rather than hitting the forward button — this trims the message down and protects the privacy of others.

*To deal with the spam you already receive, most email applications allow you to create “filters” or “rules” that move incoming email into a specified folder or even right into the trash.
Setting filters up can be complicated, but the newer versions of many email clients, including Mozilla Thunderbird and Mac OS X Mail make it much easier.
The programs recognize patterns in spam, and use your address book as a white list of legit senders. Any spam that shows up in your inbox can be marked (and automatically deleted) with a click. The more spam you mark, the better the program gets at automatically taking care of them. You’ll end up with less junk mail than before.
Many internet providers also provide a spam filter which blocks email before it gets to your computer. The problem with this is that they often block legitimate mail and you may never know about it.
Because of this, I recommend using filtering software on your own computer, such as the two programs I just mentioned.

Ultimately, spam is a fact of modern life, and it’s next to impossible to avoid all of it, mostly because of what other people are doing with your email. If your current email address is about to collapse from the amount of spam you get, you might be forced to get a new one.

After that, if you follow the suggestions and computer tips above, you’ll have a good chance of keeping it under control. While a written article may not be able to be a full replacement for something with all the benefits of seeing the steps done like a computer training cd I hope you found it made sense.

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You need good exposure to promote your online business and generate profits. You can spend lots of money on a very high quality website, but it won’t give you profits if you can’t get the kind of visitor you need. So, it is better to concentrate 99% of your efforts on converting that traffic. Social bookmarking is one option that pays off in both the long and short terms, and gives you results you can count on.

Employing such websites will bring you the spotlight to your website and attract the valuable visitors. Many marketers don’t appreciate the time and enthusiasm needed for social bookmarking. There is a lot of work involved, and not many marketers want to put that much effort into it. This benefits you, since it provides you with the chance to properly employ this strategy and reap the long time advantages to be had. These social bookmarking sites have really gained interest over their short few years of existence, and they can create a lot of traffic for your website. Many online marketers and entrepreneurs have realized the power of social bookmarking and have incorporated it into their marketing arsenal. In the current article, we will discuss ways that social bookmarking can aid you, and in what ways that you are able to harness this practice to gain the many benefits.thesistheme.

With social bookmarking, carving out your niche becomes easy. If you stay constant with your theme and the thoughts published on these sites, you are noticed and “branded”. It attaches your name to a particular niche, and people start seeing you as an expert, which in turn makes your marketing efforts easier. You earn credibility with the amount of information on the same topic or subject you put out on these social networking websites. Still, you need to remember that this content that you bookmark must be high quality and helpful to the individuals in the audience. Understanding this principle and following it can save you heartache from your work backfiring and can possibly save your reputation. For example, thesistheme.

Social bookmarking also provides exposure on the Internet that will drive traffic to your site. Social bookmarks are not limited to the bookmarking site but they are shared all over the Internet as well. Bookmarks are viral by nature, in a good way, and your data will be spread quickly if it is valuable. This is a huge opportunity for your business to gain an edge over the competition and dominate your niche in a short amount of time. Persons have witnessed a huge boost of visitors coming to their website in literally one day; thousands of people who like your information drop by to purchase products or services. How would that help you? The only way to make that happen is to utilize social bookmarking. Such social bookmarking websites have cast an enormous influence on the Internet. There is good reason for this; the way we acquire information these days is completely different from the past. This development will only accelerate over the months and years that come; you can get in on it too and aid the development of your Internet business until you come to dominate your niche. thesis theme.

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There are several ways to build a functional work at home Internet business. But prior to telling you how to make money online, we should point out that every lucrative Internet activity should rely on skills, knowledge and professional experience. Speculative businesses are meant to fail from the very start, and although you may start promising, you success will be short-lived.

Google Adsense
Design several websites on highly popular topics. Write good original content around very specialized keywords or key phrases. Adsense is a Google advertising program that depends on content-related ads display. Google pays you a commission for any web visitor that clicks on one such ad. This kind of work at home Internet business requires Internet and marketing knowledge as well as a solid grasp of optimization and advertising strategies. Moreover, you have to increase traffic progressively, so that more and more visitors reach your web pages!

Become an affiliate!
Another example of work at home Internet business is affiliate marketing or the promotion of products or services that you do not produce. The advantages of affiliate programs vary from case to case. The main trick here is to find a product that sells well and in which you believe. It is a lot easier to convince people to buy when you speak truthfully about it.

Freelancing!
Skilled people who have work experience and degrees in humanities, IT, web design, photography, engineering and science, could develop a work at home Internet business in a freelancing regime. Contracts between companies and freelancers are often intermediated by well-organized websites that provide the platform for highly rewarding business conditions. Moreover, with freelancing, you just depend in your computer to communicate and work.

False internet businesses also abound. There is a plethora of scams, schemes and pyramidal systems that want to trap the naive home worker in search of opportunities. Risks vary from scam to scam, but none leaves you untouched. Consequently, only work with those companies that you can verify and which offer good work at home Internet business conditions .

Always consider the bigger picture before launching a work at home Internet business. Carefully study the market, make a plan, create a budget and a list of expenses, try to get an estimate of the revenue based on market search and only then move on with action. You’ll be trying your luck chaotically with small chances of success if you ignore any of these!

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To begin with , what is an LLC? LLC stands for Limited Liability Company. A Limited Liability Company is a legal business  entity that handles daily business activities like a sole proprietorship for single member LLCs or a partnership for multi-member LLCs. Forming an LLC provides personal limited liability protection for the owner(s) in the same way as  a corporation. However, since it is not a partnership or a corporation, owners are not called partners or share holders, they are referred to as “members”. 

Forming an llc can provide  many  benefits if you own a small business. They’re simple to form and for the most part there is relatively little paperwork involved  in the initial   filing. LLCs also help to protect the personal assets of the member(s). In most  states you can maintain the company’s good standing by filing an annual report and paying the state’s  annual fee.  Further, as long as you operate and maintain the LLC in the right way and follow your states compliance statutes your personal assets should not be at risk in the event that the LLC is ever the subject of a law suit! 

Another benefit of starting an LLC is that it actually combines  the aspects of partnerships and corporations.In doing this , an LLC is less formal , and more flexible than a typical corporate structure but it also offers protection and even some advantages that are the same as those of a corporation. For example, members of a properly operated and maintained LLC may not be held personally liable for company debts. Their assets are also separated  from those of the LLC, so personal assets are afforded protection as well. 

Another advantage of forming an LLC   is that while they are traditionally  taxed as a sole proprietorship or partnership, they can  also elect  to be taxed as a sub chapter s corporation. LLCs have  what is called pass-through taxation which differs  from the double taxation associated with c corps. Members of an LLC will only be required to pay taxes on their wages instead of paying both corporate and individual taxes on the same earnings .

Unlike a sub chapter s corporation, which has limits on the number of share holders, there is no limit on the number of members  an LLC can have. Also LLCs are not required  to develop bylaws, hold meetings or record minutes. However, it is a good idea  for the owners  of an LLC to develop  an operating agreement which sets forth how the affairs of the business  will be conducted.  

Another great benefit  to you if you form an llc is that LLC’s can offer is the transferability of membership  interest. The business can survive even as changes are made to the ownership  of the LLC. 

By starting an LLC you will find it easier to raise capital. You can admit new   members by selling membership interests. You can even create new  classes of membership interests with different voting or profit sharing characteristics .  

Setting up an LLC may offer many advantages and benefits for a variety of business owners. They are fairly easy to form and offer personal liability protection for their owners. The flexible business structures and tax elections offered by LLCs make it well worth consideration when deciding what direction your business should take.

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There are tons of free and paid methods to drive traffic to your website, but article marketing still remains to be one of the most effective ways to get your website in front of a targeted audience. The best part is that it’s completely free. Whether you’re new to the field or a seasoned professional, article marketing is an extremely popular and effective way to boost your Internet business. You only have to remember that you have to be willing to put in a consistent effort if you want to see results over the long haul because you’re going to need a high volume of articles. Simply put, the traffic you generate will be directly related to the number of articles your write. Though this is not just about writing tons of articles – you also need to be able to write articles that are smart and attract potential visitors into your website. So how do you master the fine balance between quantity and quality? Here, we will briefly outline a few tips and suggestions that will help your business to grow when you use article marketing techniques. I have used article marketing for every industry including autoglass.

The most essential criteria for articles is that they must be somehow informative. There’s a lot of pure garbage out there on the web already. By including only relevant and true facts in an article, it will naturally be more attractive and interesting, as well as satisfy the needs of your readers. Aside from that you need to keep your quality up so that your article will bring more traffic to your site. You must provide the most current information possible; and it helps if your information is useful in some way and relates to daily life. Don’t be too general. Including sufficient detail on your subject matter without being overly wordy. Write in such a way that your reader feels compelled to click through your resource box and read the rest of the content. While you want to provide helpful hints like tools, advice and strategies, you also need to make sure your reader is left wanting more. You can also divide your article into two parts, and have the second part on your website or blog. The number of ways in which you can provide good content are virtually endless; you are only limited by the scope of your imagination.

You can easily get a lot of attention for your articles if you make sure they;re submitted to the best article directories. The primary benefit of displaying these article in this manner is that online article directories come with a vast audience which is already built in. They are built with various categories as well, which you can slip your content into. You article goes live on the site immediately upon its approval. Because the traffic to these directories is constant, you can be sure your article will be receiving hits from day one. Many curious people, publishers and webmasters all browse article directories in search of knowledge and interesting information. Should someone take notice of your article and republish it on their own site, blog, newsletter or ezine, your traffic begins to increase right away. Along with the obvious benefits of traffic generation you’ll also be building more of those essential backlinks from the sites that publish your article. Since search engines depend on backlinks to rank your site, having a high number external sites linking back to your site will help you increase your ranking.

And finally, be sure to keep up with the latest strategies for improving article marketing and information content. Craft your articles in a way that will lead your readers to your site by offering pertinent and current content. Don’t hurry to flood the net with articles that are poorly written. Take time to make sure you’re content not only reads well but also gives away valuable information to the reader. The techniques involved in article marketing are not at all complicated. It doesn’t cost you anything, helps you build a brand and carve a niche for yourself. No better way to gain exposure for your business than spread useful knowledge.

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As with anything, article writing is something that you will get better at the more your practice it and is not nearly as daunting as it may seem. There are four crucial steps that make up the process for article writing. First off, chose a topic and then stick very closely to it so that you don’t lose your reader’s attention. Secondly, sketch out the main points of the chosen topic which basically form an outline or a framework for your article. Now, organize your research materials within this framework. Once you have your infromation organized you are really ready to start your article. Now the final step is the actual writing of the article itself. You’ll fill all of the spaces you’ve left open with the information that supports each point you’ve outlined. For anyone needing help with their article writing, the following article will guide you on the most important aspects of the process and provide a few tips on how to weave your story together. There are several approaches with article marketing, you can rewrite them or spin the content so that you’ll have more articles to submit around the web.

It always pays to write articles that are short and informative. Most Internet users browse through articles extremely fast; since this is your target audience, you want to make sure they don’t skip over yours. This is why your articles have to be simple in every sense of the word. Avoid creating any kind of confusion to the reader and make all your articles easy to grab and understand. For example, avoid using words that aren’t commonly known or phrases that might be confusing to some. Avoid jargon and keep to short sentences.

All to frequently, an article writer will try to cover too much ground in one article. When you try to cover too many different angles in your article, the reader might lose interest or not understand what you’re exactly talking about. The ideal approach is concentrating on a singular topic and finding ways to make it interesting. The approach, you have towards article writing on the web is different from the traditional one, and if you want to get a good response, keep this in mind.

Another way to gain distinction as an article writer is to find your own unique voice and approach. This is an essential tip to remember, though it may seem broad at first. Remember, there are plenty of people out there who write articles, all for the purpose of selling their product or service. This is why you have to keep yourself apart and create your own unique selling point. You’ll stand out from all those other sites and will draw the attention of potential customers. Just dare to be different and think out of the box. Creativity is the key to article writing success. After all, the goal is to separate yourself from the competition in a way that will drive more traffic to your site.

Oftentimes, the well will go dry when a person sits down to write an article. But the truth is its only fear and an assumption. There will be times when writing will seem to be difficult and get slow, but then if you keep moving on, you’ll not only improve on your article writing skills but also get more traffic to your website or blog. Article promotion will definitely help increase the traffic to your website – you can find more information at Rapid Rewriter bonus

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Roonie Mara in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Photo: Columbia TriStar

It was our fault for underestimating David Fincher.

Honestly, though, we weren’t the only ones going, “Wait, really?” when the Oscar-nominated helmer (who got straight-up robbed by the Academy last year in the Best Director category) cast his sweet, dimpled, couldn’t-even-really-intimidate-a-tech-nerd “Social Network” actress Rooney Mara as hard-edge hacker Lisbeth Salander in his adaptation of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

Then, this past January, we got our first look at Mara in character: She was Salander. And we were wrong, wrong, wrong. How do you say “mea culpa” in Swedish?

Maybe like this: “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is MTV’s Best Movie of 2011!

The movie hasn’t even hit theaters yet (that’ll happen on December 20), but trust our panel of experts on this one, OK? For all the sizzling cool of “Drive” and all the 3-D majesty of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,” you won’t see a film all year that holds you — that’ll haunt you — like “Dragon Tattoo.”

Based on Stieg Larsson’s international best-selling crime thriller (you know, the one half the people in any subway car in any city in the world are reading at any given moment), Fincher’s film followed up on the Swedish original, a critical and fan fave in its own right. What these three fictional treatments have in common, of course, is the story: Mikael Blomkvist, a disgraced journalist, is hired to investigate a decades-old missing-persons case. He convinces Salander, a motorcycle-driving ward of the state who’s not adverse to violent confrontations with anyone who crosses her, to assist in the search.

Where Fincher separates and ultimately distinguishes his picture, then, is not in plot particulars (though he and writer Steven Zaillian do take a few liberties, especially with the ending), but in how he unfurls the story. Moviegoers might never need to travel to Sweden after watching his “Dragon Tattoo,” so fully does Fincher immerse viewers in an atmosphere of foggy Nordic islands and gritty Stockholm back alleys. There’s really no sense arguing: David Fincher is the finest working director in Hollywood.

He’s also one hell of a casting director. There could be no other English-language choice for Blomkvist than Daniel Craig. Fincher fought for Mara against the wishes of his studio, even as A-listers like Scarlett Johansson competed for the role. To say Mara transformed herself to play Salander doesn’t quite capture the enormity of what the actress pulled off — butchering her hair, piercing her body, shedding weight, picking up a Swedish accent and almost re-sequencing her DNA to create the character. We’d say she came as close to becoming Salander as anyone born outside of Scandinavia could possibly be, if we hadn’t already seen Noomi Rapace’s impressive performance in the Swedish original and been sure Mara’s is the more absorbing portrayal.

“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is by no means a prefect film. It drags at times. It’s probably confusing to anyone who hasn’t read the book and committed the names of the huge cast of characters to memory. The ending, regardless of Fincher’s tweaks, remains a letdown. But these are quibbles. Let the Oscars and Globes anoint a silent black-and-white film as their favorite of the year. MTV knows “Dragon Tattoo” is the Best Movie of 2011.

See for yourself on December 20.

Stick with MTV as we count down the Best of 2011, including the top Artists, Songs, Live Performances and EDM Artists of the year.

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Britney Spears on the set of her video for “I’m a Slave 4 U” in 2001
Photo: MTV News

The competition was stiff in MTV News’ Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years, but we’re finally at the homestretch.

After narrowing 30 videos down to the final two — Brit’s sweaty, old-school clip for “I’m a Slave 4 U” and her newer, equally sexy one for “Criminal” — it’s all up to fans to decide which video will reign supreme on Friday (December 2), Britney’s 30th birthday.

But before you cast your vote, let’s take a deeper dive into the Francis Lawrence-directed video for “Slave.”

Up until the raw clip, Britney’s sex-kitten antics had been reserved for the PG set, but with “Slave 4 U,” the singer launched herself into full-on sex-siren status. Appearing in the video drenched in sweat, it was the most provocative look (including her thong over her jeans!) that the then 19-year-old vixen had ever given her audience.

Spears told MTV during a taping of “Making The Video” that the theme of the song and the video, which put Spears right in the middle of a sexy dance party (with an appearance by celeb DJ du jour DJ Skribble), really matched who she was at the time.

“We’re in Los Angeles shooting my first single off my new album,” she said of the clip, shot over Labor Day weekend in 2001. “It’s basically saying ‘I’m a slave for the music.’ Like, when you go into a club, you can’t help yourself; you’re enraptured in it. When I go to a club, I can’t just sit there and chit-chat. I’d much rather be on the dance floor, just dancing. And that’s what the song’s talking about.”

Lawrence, who would later go on to direct Spears in 2008′s “Circus” as well, wanted the video to move far beyond the sleek dance clubs of L.A. or New York. He wanted it to go global. “I came up with this concept of having this club be in this abandoned Asian bath house and having it be filled with young world travelers, the kind of people who would go to these far exotic places to go to a place like this.”

Head over to Britney30.MTV.com and vote for your favorite music video in MTV News’ Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years.

Many of Spears’ clips up until “Slave” had been very high-concept. This one, however, focused on Spears and her dance moves. “Really, the concept of the video, it’s not this deep, drawn-out concept story line,” she said. “It’s just me going to a really cool club, the kind of club that you watch on TV and [you go], ‘I wish I was there.’ ”

Lawrence added, “Everything we do incorporates a lot of dance, every little vignette [is] all really done through dance.”

The video, which debuted in September of that year, follows Spears as she makes her way through the club, dancing and sweating the night away. As the party progresses, anything and everything that can hydrate the revelers has completely disappeared. So Spears and her pals take the party elsewhere.

“I walk in, and everyone’s just hanging out. Everyone’s in their own world,” she said. “And it ends up being really, really late and the sun comes up, and we’re all out of drinks, and we get really thirsty and it’s raining, and we drink the water.”

Do you think “Slave” or “Criminal” should come out on top? Let us know in the comments!

What’s your favorite Britney video? Make sure to vote at Britney30.MTV.com or the MTV Newsroom blog, and share your picks in the comments below!

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Lady Gaga
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage

Apparently, Lady Gaga made a little bit of money this year: She tops Forbes‘ list of Top-Earning Women in Music in 2011.

Just how much did Gaga make this past year? According to the magazine, the singer netted $90 million thanks to sales of Born This Way, her massive Monster Ball Tour and a number of endorsement deals.

But she’s not the only lady making bank this year. Coming in at #2 is Taylor Swift. The country/pop superstar managed to make $45 million over the past 12 months with the never-ending success of her Speak Now album (which she released back in 2010) and her tour of the same name.

Nipping at her heels is Katy Perry. The Billboard record-holder amassed $44 million with continued singles from 2010′s Teenage Dream and her California Dreams Tour.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the top five is Celine Dion. The Canadian singer comes in at #4 with $19 million in earnings. The singer’s success is due in part to her Las Vegas stage show. Adele squeaked into the top five at #5 with $18 million, earned mostly from the album sales from her chart-dominating 21. Alicia Keys also makes the list; Forbes reports that the singer earned $10 million, beating out her hubby Swizz Beatz for the year by $3.5 million.

Forbes compiled the list using income earned from May 2010 through May 2011. It also used data from Pollstar and RIAA, as well as interviews with industry insiders and the musicians themselves.

Many of the ladies on this list also landed on MTV’s Songs of the Year countdown; Gaga’s “Born This Way” comes in at #5 and Perry’s “Firework” sits at #10.

All this week, watch “AMTV” on MTV every day at 8 a.m. ET for our Best of 2011 lists. Then, come to MTVNews.com at 5 p.m. as we reveal our top picks of the year!

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Criminal

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• Label: RCA
• Director: Chris Marrs Piliero

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